First-time filmmaker Shawn Holmes joins the ranks of such forward-thinking filmmakers as Kevin Smith and The Polish Brothers. His debut film “Memory Lane” is a rare truly independent film shot for only $300 and given away online free.
The popular independent thriller, “Memory Lane,” shot for only $300, features a war-veteran who travels between our world and the afterlife in search of his fiancé’s killer – by stopping and starting his own heart. Created by Shawn Holmes, the youngest nominee in the history of the West Virginia Filmmaker of the Year Award, “Memory Lane” will be released online for free for only one weekend, beginning at midnight on 11/11/11 at 553AM.com.
In response to critical curiosity regarding Holmes’ decision to release the movie free, Holmes stated, “Innovation is paramount to our success. I’m giving it away because you just don’t do that.”
As film festival entries cost as much as his entire movie, he chose to skip the festival route early in the film’s release and give it away for one weekend on his website 553AM.com. “We may have a festival run, we may not. We’re living in this crazy time where traditional gatekeepers can be circumvented altogether. The VCR, DVD players, in-home 3D and internet; history has proven that movies aren’t limited to thriving on the silver screen and that with advances in technology come advances in how we watch them. Alfred Hitchcock said that television was like the invention of indoor plumbing. That it didn’t change people’s habits, it just kept them inside. Had the internet existed in his lifetime as it does in ours, he could have easily made the same realization that we have,” claims Shawn.
In less than a week, the trailer received nearly 18,000 views on YouTube (included with article), and approximately 4,500 Facebook fans. A full review of the film will be posted within 24 hours of the midnight release and a shorter review with an accompanying star rating will be posted beforehand on Twitter .
as published on Examiner.com